


Basic Love

by Ironwingedhawk



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Daredevil (TV), Iron Fist (TV), Jessica Jones (TV), Luke Cage (TV), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Addiction to Violence, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Cannibalism, Date Rape Drug/Roofies, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Gang Violence, Homophobic Language, Hurt Danny Rand, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Sorry, Luke and Danny have the weirdest Relationship, M/M, Multi, Oral Sex, Platonic Kissing, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Luke Cage, Rape, Rape Recovery, References to Depression, Smut, Vaginal Sex, What Have I Done
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-10-22 04:47:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10690035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ironwingedhawk/pseuds/Ironwingedhawk
Summary: Being in college alone is difficult enough. Add love drama, an important competition and a murder to the mix and you're fucked.





	1. Chapter 1

He was asleep when his best friend and roommate returned from work. Luke was working weekends at a bar right next door. Some nights Danny would join him there, but that was the exception and not the rule. Today he had ended up falling asleep on the couch, with his study book still open in his lap. He wanted to stay awake until Luke’s return, not the smartest idea Danny has ever had, especially since he knew that Luke could be away until early in the morning.  
Danny groaned, being woken up by the heavy door falling shut behind his best friend was not the most gentle way to be torn from his unusually nice dreams.  
"Looks like efficient studying.", Luke commented dryly as he walked past Danny.  
"Ssss' pretty easy stuff.", Danny replied in between a yawn, not quite awake yet," What's...se time?"  
Luke grinned,"5am."  
"Fuck."  
"When do you have to get up?"  
Danny rolled his eyes," Have to be at training at ten. But the coach told us to jog for an hour or so before."  
"Then don't.", Luke shrugged hanging his jacket on one of the hooks next to the door.  
"I’m a high-performance athlete. And besides…He'll know."  
"So?"  
"You know how scary he can be."  
Luke shook his head, "You're such a softy, Rand."  
He didn't respond but threw a pillow in his direction instead.  
Of course it found his way back to where Danny was laying as Luke responded, "Still,...that's not THAT early."  
"Depends."  
"Whatever, I guess you'll be happy to hear that I can sleep in."  
"I thought you had that test on Wednesday."  
Luke smiled, "Yeah but apparently, I was wrong about what it is about. I thought that we would need to learn a few topics in addition, but it seems like I already know everything that will be tested."  
Danny groaned, "Good for you..."  
“Hey, not my mistake that I’m just that smart.”  
“Huh. Sure.”  
Luke grinned, “ Hey remember who saved your ass while studying math for the finals in high school.”  
“You went through all of this before me, of course you knew all about that stuff.”  
“Do you still remember any of it? Because I do.”  
Danny tried to recall some of the high school math but gave up a few seconds later, this wasn’t worth the triumph, “No, I’m tired though.”  
“And I’m drunk. So what?”  
He sighed, “Okay. You win. You are smart and the High-School-Math-God.”  
He made a ridiculous bow. What a dork. It still made Danny smile though.  
"Oh and Claire invited us to that party tomorrow. And you are joining me.", Luke continued.  
"First of all: I thought you didn't talk to her anymore. Second: No."  
"We are getting along again. And you still owe me one, besides you can't continue to stay here and cry after Joy."  
"I have a test coming up and I'm not-"  
"Yes, you are. And now get to bed, looser."  
Overly dramatic Danny lifted himself up from the couch and watched Luke as he went to the kitchen and opened a beer, “I really think you shouldn’t…”  
“I’m fine. Didn’t drink that much today.”  
“But you said you were drun-…”Danny sighed, he was tired and could very well distinguish between a fight worth fighting and a lost cause. He gave Luke an overhead wave and walked towards his bedroom while the first rays of sunshine were already glimpsing through the blinds.  
It was cold. So cold. Blood…Blood everywhere, soaking the snow and his sweatshirt. There was also warmth somewhere around him…, a fire burning a few feet away from where he was lying. The air tasted like copper, jet fuel and smoke. Danny’s throat hurt and it was hard to breathe. There were four bloody bodies lying in the snow surrounding him, some of them missing limbs. He tried to get up, but his feet wouldn’t let him. His chest felt like it was on fire. Instead of walking he tried to rob, not sure where, but he needed to get away from where the remains of the plane where still burning, “Help, somebody! Please!”  
He shouted and screamed until his voice gave up and the realization that he had to find a way to survive on his own hit him full throttle. He had no idea, where he could find the closest city or settlement, if he just walked downwards...towards the valley... He could get lucky and find some sign of civilization, or he could fall of a cliff and if he had real bad luck, he would starve or freeze to death within the next few…hours? Days? Eventually someone would have to come and search for the wreck. So someone was bound to show up eventually,…and if he left the wreck they might not search for him… If he stayed close to the wreck he could also use the fire and the remains would offer protection from the wind. He could melt snow for water, but there was still nothing to eat. If he could just try to…Their Baggage. Maybe they had packed food? Danny you stupid… It is the wreck of a private jet. With a kitchen on board there has to be food somewhere, the better question was, if it was still somewhere to be found. The wreckage spread as far as he could see, and who knew how far the smaller light food could have been hurled. It could be miles away or completely out of reach. His gaze wandered over the wreckage, the four bodies in the snow. Bodies. What if there was no food? The thought raced through his head. A brief second. It was a flash of an idea, but it was enough to pull him back into reality. To realize what he might had to do in order to survive. All alone, he fell down to his knees, cold snow hugging him like an icy grave and he started to cry.

When Danny woke up from the nightmare, he was covered in sweat and felt dizzy. His heart was racing as if it was about to jump out of his chest.  
Then he registered the strong arms wrapped around his body, his heartbeat calmed down and he felt himself relax. Luke was still asleep, face buried in blond curls. Waking up in Luke's arms was a fairly normal part of their relationship. They had been best friends since elementary school, despite being polar opposites and being from completely different worlds. Then one day in high school at a birthday party, they got wasted and lost a bet that was forcing them to make out. But instead of resulting in a weird "No homo" status afterwards it had turned their relationship into the exact opposite. They were still just friends, but occasionally there was cuddling or kissing, not in a romantic/sexual way but for comfort and to show sincere affection. And whenever Danny's nightmares got so intense that they caused Luke to wake up in his bedroom next door, he would come over and wrap himself around Danny, so that he wouldn't be alone and scared the next day.  
It was certainly unusual but Danny wouldn't give this up for anything in the world. It was also the reason, he broke up with Joy. She had been starting to get jealous of Luke and made Danny choose. While he had really loved her and was missing her like hell, he had never regretted the decision to stay with his friend. Not for a damn day. Of course he never told Luke the real reason for the break up, it was something his friend didn't need on his conscience.  
Danny allowed himself a few calm moments, just feeling Luke’s skin and inhaling his smell. He felt like home. Like family. It was a feeling he could find nowhere else, and he was so damn thankful for that. Luke’s breath was warm and even, just …peaceful.  
Danny turned around carefully, so that he could check the time in the hope to have a few hours ( Okay, minutes were probably more realistic)left.  
A look at the clock, told him that it was almost time to wake up and that falling asleep again wouldn’t be worth it. He raised his hand to turn off the alarm, so that it wouldn't disturb Luke later and started to carefully wiggle out of his best friend's grip. It didn't work out the way he intended.  
"Hey.", Luke whispered, voice still raspy from sleep.  
Danny sighed, disappointed he woke him up, "I'm sorry."  
"It's okay...Last night was really bad. You okay?"  
"Just tired.", Danny replied trying to get up but Luke had his arm pinned in an iron grip.  
"What was the dream about?"  
"What do you think? The crash. Being alone.", he shrugged nonchalantly, but his pulse sped up again and he turned his gaze away from Luke.  
"I'm sorry.", Luke’s voice was barley a whisper and he raised his free hand to trace the scar on Danny's chest. Apart from the PTSD, he was sure he would never fully recover from, the weirdly shaped scar was the only reminder of the hellish event.  
He hated it with passion.  
He hated it, when girls asked him about it, and he hated it when he looked at it in the mirror.  
That being said, he didn't hate it when Luke touched it. For him it meant something different, for him it was connected to a miracle. To him it was a reminder that his best friend was still alive. Luke had told Danny about the time he had been missing. How he found out through the news and cried for days.  
He had told him, how he begged the doctors to see him, despite not being family, after he got back to New York. And how he waited by his bedside next to Danny’s comatose body, when they finally allowed him in. To him the existence of this scar was a miracle.  
"It's okay.", Danny smiled fondly and pressed a kiss to his best friend's forehead, "I have to get up now.", he gave his pinned down hand a shake and Luke released him.  
"You're an idiot, Rand. But you’re my idiot and I love you."  
He grinned and jumped to his feet, grabbing a shirt that was lying on the floor, "I love you too, you jerk."  
Danny smiled as he walked towards the kitchen. Maybe today wouldn't end up being that bad anyway. Actually the day was looking pretty damn good, training was fun and he could see some other friends at the party.  
Despite being the sole heir of the Rand family fortune, Danny wasn't that rich,…at least not yet. The fortune was handled by Jeri Hogarth until he had completed college. Jeri was paying him enough money to pay rent on this quite small apartment and make a living without having to work, that way he could focus on college. Technically Luke didn't have to work either, but he liked to be independent so he still took the job at the bar two years ago. A look at the clock told Danny, that he had forty minutes left until it was time to leave. Enough to make pancakes for himself and leave one or two for Luke in the oven.  
Living with Luke wasn't as easy as Danny wanted it to be. Of course it was never simple to live with your best friend during college. As soon as you move in together, the last remaining secrets and taboos are laid bare/broken. You eventually walk in on the other naked in the bath or you learn how they sound during sex. Stuff like that,…stuff that you actually don’t want to know. But that wasn't the problem right now, the problem was that Danny wasn't the only one in the apartment with issues. The thing was, Luke wasn't in a good place. After Reeva broke up with him, he had changed. Not fundamentally but still... He was drinking more than before, jumping from girl to girl and occasionally Danny would wake up, and Luke would be out so that he would have to throw the poor soul left in his roommate’s bed out as polite as possible. Luke hadn't been this way before and it hurt Danny to see him like that. Ever since he knew him Luke had protected him from the cruel world and false friends, Luke had been there when PTSD and anxiety attacks had shaken him to the core, and now… Of course Danny wasn't mad at Luke because of his problems, he was mad at himself. He should help Luke and he really wanted to, but somehow he wasn’t able to do that. Now that his friend was at a bad place, Danny had no idea how to get him out of that pit. Those were the days, he remembered something his parents used to tell him, when he was little: Whenever he had complained about something being too difficult, they replied by saying, “Nothing worthwhile is.” Back then it had annoyed the shit out of him, now he was understanding the truth behind it. 

Danny had already made pancakes and taken a shower, when he heard a voice behind him.  
"Are those for me?", Luke asked entering the kitchen.  
Danny nodded as he grabbed his Phone and earplugs from the counter, "I should be back at two...When does the party start."  
"Eight."  
"Great more than enough time to shower and catch up on sleep."  
Luke laughed fondly, "That's my boy. Do we need groceries for tomorrow?"  
Danny tilted his head, "You okay with take out?"  
"I thought you knew me?", the larger man hugged him from behind and pressed a kiss against his neck.  
"Then we don't.", Danny smiled.  
"Good, because I don't really feel like shopping."  
“You never do. Thank God.”  
“Yeah…We should actually learn how to make anything other than breakfast food.”  
Danny laughed, “We needed years to master that stuff. I don’t want to know how long that would take…”  
“Years, centuries…When you get your company, we have to hire a cook… Or two.”  
We. Danny liked it when Luke talked about them remaining roommates after college as if it was the most natural thing in the world. That being said, he wasn’t so fond of having people work for them in their own house. Somehow their cleaning lady had creeped him out back when he had still been a kid and his Nannies had been everything but likable.  
“We’ll see.”, he replied.  
Luke walked towards the kitchen and grabbed the plate with the rest of the pancakes, “These look pretty good.”  
“Thank you. Why are you already up anyway?”  
“I couldn`t really sleep after you woke me.”  
“Hey! I tried my best.”  
Luke laughed, “That’s your excuse? Coach Fury would whoop my ass, if I just -tried my best-…”  
“What was that about me being a softy yesterday?”  
“That’s not the same and you know it.”  
Danny grinned, “Yeah, Lei Kung is worse then Fury…That being said at least you woke up to a nice view this morning.”  
“Christ, what did I do to deserve you?”, Luke groaned, before he walked over to where Danny was putting on his running shoes, ducked down and gave him a quick peck on the lips, "But joking aside…You sure everything's okay? Last night's dream seemed to have been intense, I thought about waking you up, but we know how that usually ends... bruises don't really suit me.”  
Danny shook his head, "It's okay, it's just…it has gotten worse again. Maybe I need to get back into therapy, I don't know."  
"Maybe...Is it because of Joy?"  
"No, I don't think so."  
Luke nodded and changed the topic, "I can pick you up from training at two, if you want me to."  
"That would be great. Thanks.", Danny replied sincerely and let the door fall shut behind him.  
His usual jogging route led him right through central park. It was his favorite place in New York. Not only because it felt like he could actually be on his own here, but it was also because it was the place he and Luke first met. The nanny who took care of him these days had liked to take him here to play with Joy and Ward, they were the only other kids he knew back then. Their parents had them homeschooled together by private teachers, he had hated it. Today he could actually understand them, they were scared of him getting kidnapped for ransom or of other children at school using him just for the benefits of it but it had been a hell of a golden cage.  
>The day Danny met Carl Lucas he had finally grown sick of isolation and ran away from the others. He had no real destination, he just knew that he wanted to be alone. He had been walking through some bushes, when he almost tripped over a boy lying in the dirt, "You okay?", he had asked him.  
"I'm playing hide and seek, I'm hiding."  
"Can I hide with you?"  
"Sure.", Luke had replied with typical childish enthusiasm.  
And then they just laid down there in the dirt, talking to each other for hours. It turned out that Luke's friends had given up the search and returned home, then his mom had been searching for him in the park. In the meantime Danny's nanny had called the police, who were the ones to pull them out of the bushes hours later and also insisted on taking Luke in for interrogation. Luke had still been a child only two years older than Danny,… that didn’t matter back then. Of course Danny was grounded for running away, but meeting Luke was what convinced him to beg his parents to be allowed to visit an actual school, and eventually he succeeded.<  
All of this happened a long time ago, yet Danny still remembered the spot he and Luke had been hiding, packed by the sudden rush of nostalgia, he decided to change his jogging route and take a shortage away from the marked trails to visit that particular spot.  
Life however had different plans, he was still a few minutes away when he tripped over something buried in the ground. His first instinct was to check himself for injuries, there was a big tournament coming up and he was the college's biggest hope. Once he realized that he was fine he stood up cleared the dirt from his pants and looked what caused him to lose his normally excellent balance: Buried right in front of him was a human skull.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah.  
> This has been something I wanted to write for a looooooong time. I had the idea for something like this for a year or so, but shoved it aside because I couldn't think off a plot to go with the character constallations.  
> While it's not obvious in the first chapter but...I finally found one.  
> Oh- and Kung-fu university teams are totally a thing y'all...(Idk. but it's sort of neccessary...)  
> The first draft for the whole story is already finished and...I apologize in advance for the evil shit, I'll put these cuties through...I mean it, there is some serious messed up stuff coming... I'm already seeing a therapist, so don't worry :D  
> Oh and Colleen will play a big part starting in the next chapter. Yay.  
> ALSO THAT FUCKING TRAILER! I MEAN WTF! (everyone is raving about Elektra and Matt/Jess and I'm just sitting here replaying the Luke/Danny bit/the glimpse of Colleen)  
> Hope you enjoy, feel free to leave comments and kudos.  
> Thanks for reading :D


	2. Chapter 2

“Shit.”, Danny cursed making a few stumbled steps backwards. The skull was only uncovered partially but of course it had been enough for him to get his foot caught and stumble. That good old Rand luck was fully back in action once again. Though he was still a lot luckier than that poor soul, finding rest in the shadows of an oak in central park .  
His first instinct was to grab his phone and call the police but during the fall his cell phone had slipped out of his pocket leaving the screen cracked like a damn spider web.  
“Please work. Please work.”, he muttered as he pressed the home button, “Shit.”, the screen remained dark.  
He walked a few feet backwards and headed towards the nearest official walkway, he needed to find someone and use their phone. And Danny was damn sure, that besides him no one else enjoyed jogging through bushes and dirt and shit. The path he reached wasn’t as busy as most areas of central park but still busy enough that he could spot a person moving a few steps further down the gravel track. He sped up a little to reach the lone jogger.  
As he got closer, he recognized her as a young woman dressed in a white jogging suit, “Hey, hey excuse me.”, Danny said tapping her on the shoulder. She turned around, walking a few feet backwards while pulling out her earplugs. For a moment Danny was stunned, mesmerized by the big brown eyes piercing him with fierce mistrust and annoyance but nonetheless, she seemed curious, “What?”  
“Do…do you have a phone?”, Danny you idiot, this was 2017 of course she had a phone.  
She rolled her eyes and turned away from him, “No, you are not getting my number. Bye.”  
“What? No! Wait, that’s not…”, he made a sprint following her and grabbed her by the arm.  
With an intense jerk, she tried to get rid of him but Danny managed to block her fist and hold her still. Luckily no one else had appeared within sight or he wouldn’t have to worry about the police coming here eventually…but that would be for different reasons then he needed the cops right now.  
“I need your phone to call the police.”  
“Yeah, so do I.”  
He shook his, “No…It’s not… mine’s broken and there is a…body…please.”  
She tensed, “A what?”  
“Yeah, I know…”  
“Where?”  
He gestured towards the way he came from. Away from the track and towards the undergrowth.  
“So you want me to follow you into the bushes? All alone. No, Thanks.”  
Danny sighed, “Please. You don’t have to go there just give me your phone for a sec or call the cops yourself.”  
The girl looked around hesitantly and it seemed as if curiosity got the best of her, “Okay. Here’s the thing I’m not giving you my phone to prank-call the cops. I have enough shit do deal with anyway. I want to see for myself if you’re telling the truth or making this up. But I have to warn you… if you try to touch me, I can kick your ass from here to Brooklyn.”  
He smiled, “I fully believe that. Thanks.”  
He lead the way towards the place he found the skull, luckily Danny was pretty good when it came to orientation. Otherwise he would have probably led the girl towards nothing but bushes and she would have bailed or made true on her threat to beat the shit out of him.  
 Instead they were now standing in front of the spot with her carefully leaning over the human remains, “Shit.”, she whispered reacting the same way Danny did earlier.  
He decided not to say I told you so and went with a simple, “Yeah.”, instead.  
“I’m pretty sure that’s human…”she muttered and reached for her phone.  
Danny couldn’t help but watch her pace up and down as she called nine one one, “Yeah…Uhm…Hello my name is Colleen Wing, I’m at Central Park…”, she looked around and tried to give the easiest description of their exact location before she continued, “…with a…?”, she looked over towards Danny, raising an eyebrow.  
“Daniel Rand.”  
Her mouth opened and fell shut and she tilted her head in a silent, unspoken question.  
“Yeah.”  
“…With Daniel Rand, he found what seems to be a human skull… I mean as far as I can tell.”, there was a short break, as she listened.  
She leaned down towards the skull, “…I don’t know. Maybe? I haven’t touched it.”, Colleen looked into his direction and Danny shook his head, “Neither did he.”  
Another break followed.  
“Of course. Okay…”, and with these words she hung up, “They’ll send a patrol. But we have to stay here.”  
“No surprise.”  
“Yeah… I actually have places to be right now. You owe me a coffee after that.”  
Danny smiled, he actually had stuff to do as well but coffee with Colleen was a lot more tempting than training with Lei Kung, “Is that a date?”  
She laughed dryly, “You wish. But if I get dragged into a police investigation by a fucking billionaire, I expect to get something out of it.”  
“Fair enough. Do you think, this was a crime?”  
Colleen looked down at the skull, “ I mean it seems to have been buried…so  I don’t think it was a junkie taking his last shot.”  
Danny nodded and a shiver ran down his spine, "That's very..."  
"Scary?", she said, "I guess."  
"I wanted to go with unsettling, but okay."  
 "That's just a fancy word for scary...Or a word you use when you want to appear brave.", she smiled softly, “Like for a girl.”  
 Danny would have loved to continue the banter, but given the circumstances it seemed...wrong? Colleen seemed to have realized the same judging from how she cleared her throat and made a few steps towards the bushes, "I'll see if the cops have arrived yet."  


* * *

The police showed up a few minutes later. And then everything went by in a haze. CSU-workers were hurrying towards the skull and officers lead Colleen and Danny away from the scene, towards a police car that brought them to the precinct. They gave their official statements on what had happened and then Danny was finally allowed to make a few phone calls.

His first one was for Lei Kung. It was already one pm.  
Of course he got himself a nice tirade of cursing from his coach. To Lei Kung it didn’t matter, that he had no say in this and hadn’t been allowed to call him earlier. He was definitely in for a rough treatment for his next training session. Great.  
After that he called Luke. Danny didn’t really feel like walking all the way back from here to their apartment so he wanted him to pick him up.  
“Hey, buddy.”  
“Hey, what’s up? From where’re ya calling?”, he was relieved that he didn’t sound drunk. These days that wasn’t really that usual, at least not on weekends.  
“Police.”  
“Shit! What have you done?”  
Danny laughed, “Me? Nothing. I got mixed up in some shit, I don’t think too deep…still.”  
“What happened?”, he could hear him grabbing his keys on the other end of the line.  
“I-“, Danny turned around looking at the other people lined up behind him, waiting to make their call. They didn’t look like suspects, more like visitors. How could none of them have a functioning cell phone?  
” I’ll tell you on the way home. Don’t have much time.”  
He heard Luke chuckle softly, “Okay. Damn you’re a trouble magnet, love you.”  
“Ha, says you…Love you too.”, he whispered as he hung up.  
Even at this time of the day, Luke would need quite some time. Which meant that Danny had to waste the rest of his time here somehow. Without a phone.  
 He made a mental note to have it fixed or replaced as soon as possible and walked towards the officer who interviewed him earlier today, “Excuse me.”  
 The man looked up at him seemingly annoyed, “What?”  
“Do you know, where Miss Wing is?”, he wanted to make good on his promised coffee.  
“The Asian girl? I think they let her go a few minutes before you. “  
Of course. Shit. Maybe he actually had wanted for this to be a date. Whatever.  
He sighed, and sat down to wait for Luke.

* * *

After Danny had filled Luke in on what happened in the park they made the rest of the way back home in silence.  
In the two years they had lived together, Danny had never been happier to be here. He actually moved in with Luke, back then when he was still underage. Jeri had sort of gotten fed up with him and so Luke had taken over as his legal guardian. It had been as weird as it sounded, but they had managed. Soon Luke would have finished his study on criminal sciences, while Danny would still be stuck studying economics for a few years. When he was a child he had loved nothing more than the evenings his parents were out and didn’t get a Nanny or Harold to look out after him. Now it was different, now he couldn’t imagine being alone for longer than a day or two. One day, that might turn out to be a problem but that shouldn’t be bothering him now… For now Danny just enjoyed living with Luke in their apartment, which was pretty crappy for being inhabited by a billionaire. But that was what they got for the rent Jeri had handed them out and it wasn’t _that_ bad. The light grey wooded walls and floors made the rooms appear bigger, then they were. And while the small living/dining area was not big enough to have a party, it fitted a couch, an armchair and a small dining table with space for three people. Considering the men’s cooking skills the kitchen was unreasonably large though, the only thing they used was the counter facing the room and the fridge. The rest of their apartment was consisting of the small bathroom which they had to share and two bedrooms, each of them spacious enough to fit a desk, a wardrobe, a bookshelf and a bed.  
“We don’t have to go to the party, you know…”, Luke said sitting down on the couch, “Not with what happened.”  
Danny shook his head, he owed Luke and visiting the party had been his plan for today, “Nah.., you were looking so forward to this. And a little distraction won’t hurt…Besides it was just a skull of some stranger, it’s not like it was a bloated up corpse or something.”  
“Ew. Thanks for the mental image.”, Luke muttered.  
“I’m not the one who wants to become a cop one day.”, Danny dropped down on the coach and nestled up against Luke’s chest.  
“You know it’s not all bodies and blood, right?”  
“Of course. It’s still a weird thing to be disgusted of, when you want to do this for a living one day.”  
“There are a lot of things weird about me.” ,Luke whispered softly as he pressed a kiss into Danny’s hair,” Doesn’t mean that’s bad though. I’m gonna sleep a little. You wake me up I’ll kill you.”  
“I think I’ll try to nap as well, so don’t worry.”  
“Good for you. That doesn’t make you waking me up any less likely though…”

* * *

Luckily the route to Claire and therefore to the party was short enough to walk by foot. That way they didn’t need to have a designated driver or needed to rely on public transportation for their way back. 

While Claire Temple was a nursing student, she lived in a pretty spacious apartment. Danny knew that she had worked her ass off to pay the rent and he admired her for that sort of endurance. He had been sad when Luke broke up with Claire, not only because it had been the longest and healthiest relationship his friend has had since Reeva but also because he liked her a lot. She had been like a sister to Danny and she had accepted his and Luke’s closeness as what it was: Affection between friends and no threat to what they had.  
While he always knew that he liked her, Danny hadn’t realized how much he had been missing Claire until she hugged him as a greeting, “You guys are late. I was worried you wouldn’t show up at all.”  
The greeting for Luke was notably colder than the one for Danny but the taller man didn’t seem to mind.  
As they entered the apartment, Danny had a look around, there were a few people he knew: Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff making out on the counter, Leo Fitz standing awkwardly in the corner not taking his eyes of Jemma Simmons who was enjoying herself on the dance floor, Daisy Johnson sipping a drink, Bobbi Morse, Lance Hunter, Peter Quill, and a whole bunch of others.  
Danny watched  Luke as he walked towards a couple of guys he knew from his courses and decided to join some of his closest friends standing near the bathroom door, “Hey, guys.”, he smiled and tipped Matt Murdock on the shoulder.  
“Hey.”, the blind man replied and smiled.  
“Danny!”, Karen screeched,  seemingly already drunk and hurried to give him a tight hug.  
Foggy smiled, “Hey man, thought you wouldn’t show up.”  
Danny grinned and gestured vaguely towards the way Claire went last he saw her, ”Heard that before.”  
“Why are you late?”, Matt asked and took a sip from his drink.  
He wasn’t sure if he should tell the whole truth, so Danny stayed vague, “Sleep.”  
Karen rolled her eyes, “Ugh, college stress?”  
“Sort of… Anything new with you guys.”  
“I’m dating Marcy…again.”, Foggy replied proudly.  
Danny smiled, “Great. Where…, where is she?”, he gestured around the room.  
“She broke her leg last week, so she stayed home.”  
“Does that have anything to do with you getting back together or-“,he joked and lucky for his ribs he made the step backwards just in time to dodge the punch.  
“Very funny.”, Foggy mused dryly enough for Danny to believe, that there was a little truth behind his joke.  
“Rand.”, he got interrupted by a voice coming from a few steps away.  
Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes were walking towards him arm in arm, Rogers smiled, “Good to see you again. You fit for the tournament in two weeks?”  
Steve was the sort of model athlete everyone wanted to be. By far the most popular guy at college, every guy wanted to be like him and every girl wanted to be with him, that hadn’t changed when he and Bucky came out a year ago. Danny mostly knew him through Luke who played alongside Steve and his boyfriend in the Football team and because Steve liked to visit all of the major competitions their university had a say in. Therefore Rogers had also watched Danny fight a few times.  
Which meant he would also be there for the next tournament...And the truth was Danny wasn’t sure about his current form, he had won the national championship last year, but this time... He would surely make it through the first rounds. But he did feel sort of burnt out. Danny was sure that he was not up to defend the title. So he had to choose between disappointing Steve and lying to him. He picked the option which wouldn’t have any consequences for today and therefore the lie , “ Of course.”  
Rogers grinned, “Good to hear that. Do you know where Luke is?”  
“We’ve been searching for him all over the place.”, Barnes added.  
“He came here with me and we just arrived a few minutes ago. You probably missed him. Last I saw him he was with some of the others from his courses. He’s hard to oversee, I’m sure you’ll find him if you look again.  
“Thanks.”, and as fast as they had appeared, the couple vanished in the crowd.  
“Wow.”, Foggy grinned, “We have been blessed.”  
Karen smiled, “Come on it’s not as if they are Gods or something…”  
“I’m getting myself a beer.”, Danny interrupted clearing his dry throat, “You guys need anything?”  
“Thanks, we’re fine.”, Matt raised his bottle and the others did the same to confirm his answer.  
Danny hated it when he had to make his way through crowded parties. The smell of sweat and alcohol hanging in the stuffy air and constantly getting stepped on his toes wasn’t really his idea of fun. Just when he was glad, that he had made it through the crowd without getting covered in beer he got pushed from behind and stumbled into another guest, “Oh shit, sorry.”  
The figure turned around and Danny’s heart made a leap through his chest, “Danny?”, the way Colleen smiled while saying his name forced him to do the same.  
“Hey!”  
“Wow, that’s…weird.”  
He grabbed a beer from the fridge, “Yeah. You know Claire?”  
She made a grimace, “Nah, she’s a friend of my dorm mate. I’m just coming along.”  
“Who’s your dorm mate? Maybe I know her…or him.”  
For a moment she seemed to think about what to say, before she answered, “I…I think you know her…Misty Knight.”, she flinched and looked at him pitifully, “She told me.”  
“Ohh. Wow…that’s so awkward.”  
“Yeah…”  
Misty was Danny’s ex, they had been dating for a while back in high school until she broke up with him. It hadn’t been pretty and Danny took most of the blame on himself. Misty had been in an accident and lost her arm, Danny had tried not to treat her any differently. He wasn’t sure if he had failed disastrously or if her own struggle with the disability had pushed her towards the decision to end the relationship. The truth was probably somewhere in-between.  As if that wasn’t fucked up enough Danny had accidently walked in on her and Luke in the shower a few months ago. He wasn’t mad at either of them, he had no right to be…, but man had it been awkward.  
“I knew, when I met you in the park…Didn’t think it was the right time to tell you back then.”  
He smiled, “I sort of agree on that. Did they also ask you to return in two days?”  
“Yeah, could do well without that.”  
“Same.”, he laughed, “But who couldn’t?”  
She smiled softly, “Yeah…Would you mind if I stick to you? I don’t really know anyone here except for Misty and she’s talking to some guys I only know vaguely and quite frankly don’t really like them…”, she flinched at that.  
“Sure. ”, he took a look around to look for a place where they could talk. Everything was crowded and he didn’t want to take the risk of walking in on a make-out-session and check the bath- or bedroom. So instead he just gestured towards the entry door, “Want to go outside to talk?”, his heart was racing and she needed a painful amount of time to think about her answer.  
“Yeah, it’s stuffy in here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at these idiots falling in love :D  
> There's not much to say regarding that chapter...I guess you could say it's the last one before shit really hits the fan.  
> Next chapter is also pretty long, the reason for that is that it has tons of Ironwing dialogue in it... Like seriously.  
> Also, if you're also reading "We are at war", it might take a bit until I update. I want to write ahead a little further before I publish the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

They sat down in the stairwell and Colleen pulled her legs towards her chest. Protectively, maybe?  
“You don’t seem to enjoy the party either, do you?”, she started the conversation after a few minutes of silence.  
He tilted his head, “I wouldn’t say it like that…Let’s just say I’m not in the mood.”  
“No surprise…after a day like that. But why come here?”  
“My roommate dragged me along.”  
“Luke? “, she asked.  
“Yeah. You…uhm…know his name through Misty?”  
“Yeah…”, she sounded uncomfortable, “You know, she talks a lot about you. It’s mostly positive stuff.”  
“Mostly?”, he smiled, ”That’s vague.”  
“Almost exclusively. I mean she broke up for a reason…I…”  
“You know…I tried my best?”  
“I believe that… and so does she.”  
When Misty broke up with Danny she had been going through a rough time. She had lost her arm in an accident after her 17th birthday. Things had just been different after that. Danny had tried to treat her the same as before, he had tried so damn hard. These days, he wasn’t sure if he had failed with that or if that method had been the wrong decision in the first place. Fact was that it hadn’t been enough or right, or whatever… their relationship hadn’t been strong enough to work this through.  
“That’s…good to hear.”  
“And awkward.”, she smiled, “I’m sorry.”  
“It’s okay. But I guess you owe me a story now.”  
“That’s only fair. What do you want to know?”  
_Do you have a boyfriend?  
Where do you live?  
What’s your number?  
Do you want to go on a date with me?_  
“ How did you meet Misty?”  
She laughed, “Through a portal on the internet.”  
“Damn,…I wasted my chance for something that’s actually interesting didn’t I?  
“Yup.”  
“Do I get a second try?  
“Nope.”  
“Well crap.”  
She grinned, “ Do you think Luke and Misty are behaving awkward in there?”  
“Luke has slept with a lot of girls at the party. I don’t think so…” Wait that sounded mean. “I mean he’s great and loyal but…I would say he’s been having some kind of commitment issues lately…I swear I didn’t intend for it to sound that mean. “  
“It didn’t really sound mean. Everyone has problems. It’s not like people are easy. Life would be pretty boring otherwise.”  
"That sounds like straight up from a motivational poster."  
She giggled, "It's true though."  
"...Or a fortune cookie..."  
Colleen's giggling turned into outright laughter.  
 " _**VALUE YOUR FELLOW CITIZENS, BECAUSE THEY ARE PERFECT EVEN DESPITE THEIR FLAWS**_.", Danny quoted in a manner that was unmistakably close to Lei Kung's tone of voice."  
She continued to giggle as he watched her. For a brief moment their eyes met and time seemed to stop. But then the moment was over as quickly as it had begun.

* * *

Danny and Colleen sat there for hours and talked about everything that came to their minds. But just like everything this party had to end eventually. And as the apartment cleared, Misty walked past them, giving Danny an awkward yet kind smile before she tapped Colleen on the shoulder, “Give me a sec.”, the dark-haired girl replied and waited for Misty to go ahead, then she opened her purse and pulled out a black pen. Without saying a word, she shoved up Danny’s shirt and wrote her number on his stomach. Her touching his scar sent a cold shudder up Danny’s spine. Colleen turned around, gave him a warm smile and jogged down the stairs.  
The blond man waited a few moments after that. He wasn’t sure if he should stay here or go back in. There couldn’t be many people left in there and the music had stopped about ten minutes ago.  
And indeed, it didn’t take long for Luke to join him in the stairwell, accompanied by a blonde and a raven haired girl he was holding around the waist.  
“You okay?”, he asked and Danny could smell the alcohol coming from each of them. But still…Luke…Even when he was drunk, he was worried about his best friend spending a party sitting on stairs.  
“Yeah. It’s…”, he side-eyed the girls and decided to tell him tomorrow, “Not important.”  
That seemed to be convincing enough for Luke in this state and he went back to open mouthed kisses with black-hair. The blonde girl smiled awkwardly before she walked past Danny and whispered, “Have fun with that mess, I’m out before they decide to continue the party at our place.”  
Danny sighed and lifted himself up from the ground waiting for Luke and the girl to follow.  
The way back home was awkward. It took them way longer than normal, because every now and then Luke and the girl would start to kiss and Danny had to interrupt before it would turn into sex in the middle of the street. At least neither of them threw up. Danny considered that to be a major win.  
When they entered the apartment The blond made a run for his room. He slipped out of his shirt and placed himself in front of the mirror so that he could immediately save the number on his phone. Luckily he hadn’t forgotten about the numbers being mirrored.  The only thing, he forgot was that his phone was still broken. Danny grabbed a pen and a piece paper from his desk and wrote the number down on three different snippets of paper, placing them at different spots in the room. He knew his bad luck, romantic comedies and  his ability to lose everything. Not taking any precautions would be reckless.  
When the snippets were in place, he slipped out of his pants, grabbed his earplugs and his almost antique iPod, just in time as the thumping next door started.

_> It had been two days now. Danny had tried to keep the fire alive but it hadn’t worked out.  He kept himself warm with every piece of fabric he could tear off the plane seats, rescue from a suitcase he had found in the snow or recover from the bodies. Additionally he moved in order to produce warmth and to fight against the tiredness. He had allowed himself only a few hours of rest. He was scared that he wouldn’t wake up again, or be buried under snow or somehow…miss an opportunity to be rescued. The downside to the sport was the hunger. It had gotten unbearable and with every hour Danny felt weaker.<_

This time, when he woke up from the nightmare, Danny was alone. His heart was still racing like crazy as he reached for the bottle to make up for the water he sweated out this night.  
“I’m safe. I’m home. Nothing can hurt me. I’m safe. I’m home. Nothing can hurt me. I’m safe. I’m home. Nothing can hurt me.”, it was a mantra he had learned in therapy. The goal was to appeal to his rational mind and to fight the fear. It didn’t always work.  
He shoved himself up from the bed and walked towards the door. The kitchen and the living room where empty and the bathroom door was open. He figured that Luke was still asleep in the bedroom.  He wasn’t sure how long though… orange sunlight was already shining through the blinds, making the dust in the air glitter. Danny’s priority for today was to get his phone fixed. If he was lucky, he could also talk to Colleen…He could call her from his fixed phone or from home, he _really_ didn’t want her to think he wasn’t interested. 

* * *

 

“Hey.”, Danny was almost finished with his breakfast when Luke came out of his room, “ Do you have  some leftovers?”, he gestured towards Danny’s plate.  
“There’s enough for you and…?”  
“Jessica.”  
“Ah.”  
As if her name had summoned her, the girl pushed past Luke and walked towards the kitchen basically ignoring Danny, heading straight for the fridge and grabbing a bottle of Whiskey. Classy.  
Luke looked towards Danny and smiled fondly, but  Danny knew that the smile wasn’t really directed at him.  Danny hadn’t seen his friend like this in a long time.  
“So?”, Jessica asked and looked at Luke.  
Luke sighed walked towards Danny pulled him against his chest and gave him a kiss. There was some tongue and Luke’s hand was on his ass, their kisses had never been like this before. Somehow it felt disastrously wrong  
 “Dude what the fuck?”, he was about to ask as they pulled apart but something in Luke’s eyes was giving him an urging hint to shut up. Then the black man looked over towards Jessica and she bit her lips, “Okay, that was hot.”  
Danny raised an eyebrow and decided to leave the room for now, he had an idea what was going on and he didn’t really feel like being used as an aphrodisiac, or the third part of a threesome for Luke and one of his one-night- stands. Today he would only have his phone repaired and call Colleen after that.  
“Where are you going?”, Luke asked.  
Danny gave him a questioning look, “I have some stuff to do, today…so…”  
He saw Luke gesturing towards Jessica, before he followed him and grabbed him by the arm.  
“What the hell was that?”, Danny hissed.  
“Nothing.”  
Danny gave him a no nonsense look.  
“I told Jess about,…our friendship and she thought it was hot.”  
“You put a _LOT_ of effort into impressing her.”  
Luke tilted his head, “Wait! It didn’t do anything for you, right? Because…”  
“What? No! Eww. You’re like a brother. I would never want to…sleep or even make out with you.”  
The other man seemed to be relieved, which made Danny wonder if he ever gave him a reason to believe differently.  
“It’s just, I had a rough night…”  
“I’m sorry.”, Luke took his left hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.  
Danny smiled, “It’s okay. Now go to the girl, and get some profit out of that kiss.”  
“I will, she’s amazing.“  
“Ew.”  
“Not what I meant, idiot. Don’t run into any dead people today”  
“I’ll try my best.”

Knowing that some things never changed was always a comforting thought. That was why Danny was for example glad that old Al was always sitting in front of their favorite café (and Al was glad that every day either Luke or Danny bought him a coffee), that professor Janeson was always five minutes too late or that employers of electronic shops were always jerks hiding behind an overly friendly face.  
Yes, he had tried to charge his phone.  
Yes, he had tried to change the battery.  
Yes, he knew that dropping his phone on hard ground wasn’t a good idea.  
And yes, he knew that 1000$ for the repair were more expensive then 800$ for a new phone.  
But since the dark haired man who couldn’t be much older than Danny had to try everything Danny had already tried yesterday and because he needed an endless amount of time to do simple math exercises, every fourth grader could solve in a minute, Danny’s stop at the shop took him an hour despite a few minutes…At least he had a new phone now.  


* * *

 

When he came back home, Luke was nowhere to be found but Danny heard a quiet snoring from the bedroom and Jessica’s  shoes were still standing in the hallway. He tried not to make any sound as he grabbed one of the snippets from the night before, sat down on his bed and finally saved Colleens number. He considered texting her, but saved that as plan B and called instead.  
She answered after two rings:  
“Wing.”  
“Hi, it’s me.”  
“Hey.”, he could practically hear her smile through the phone.  
“I…um thanks. For the number, you know…That’s a big step up from being considered a creep less than a day before.”  
She sighed, “Uh… yeah…Saying you aren’t getting my number and giving it to you the same day is everything but consequent.” ,she laughed.  
He grinned, “Well it was four a.m. so technically not the same day.”  
“Yeah, right… You think you can manage to stay up late again? I know this amazing Chinese place midtown.”  
“I have a lecture tomorrow morning. But I think that one isn’t really important.”, he sounded surprisingly calm considering how anxious he felt.  
“Great. So 6 a.m.? I’ll text you the address. “  
“Okay, see you then.”  
“Yeah, and I know who you are, so…”  
Danny grinned,“-I’ll pay.”  
She laughed, “ That’s what I was getting at. See you later.”  
“See you.”  
He knew that he was smiling like an idiot but he couldn’t help. Yeah, the next few days he still needed to write a test,  go to the police and get an earful by Lei Kung. But right now he couldn’t care less. He had a date, Luke seemed to be happy and judging by the lack of empty beer bottles, his friend hadn’t downed any alcohol today. Everything would be alright.  
“What did I just overhear?”, speaking of the devil…Luke was leaning against the doorframe of Danny’s room, wearing nothing but his sweat pants.  
“For a man of your size, you’re very good at sneaking up on other people.”  
“I’m not sure how to take that.”  
Danny shrugged, “Take it as a compliment.”  
“You give the weirdest compliments in the world. Anyone ever told you that?”  
“You.”  
“Huh. Anyway you’re deflecting…who was that?”  
Danny was really bad at having secrets from Luke. One time he wanted to throw a surprise party with some of Luke’s other friends. It had ended in a disaster. In addition to that, there was no actual need for secrecy in this case, “A girl I met yesterday.”  
“My boy has a date?”, Luke smiled and walked towards him.  
“Yeah.”  
He gave him a fist bump, “Well done.”  
“What’s _your_ date doing, anyway?”  
“Date…”, Luke spoke the word as if it was the first time he heard it, “I wouldn’t call her that. And…We’re recharging.”  
“Ugh. Hope you don’t need me for that this time.”  
“Nah. How is she?”  
Danny smiled,” She’s pretty great. I mean as far as I can tell now.”  
“Good. She better not hurt you.”  
“A: As if you would ever hurt a girl for stuff like this. B: I’m not your teenage daughter who just brought home her first boyfriend.”  
“I didn’t mean it as a threat. I really hope that she doesn’t hurt you because I have to deal with the mess afterwards and I don’t know any teenage girls who are as emotionally unstable as you are.”  
“We deserve each other.”, Danny laughed and gave his friend a hug, “But the good thing is, I know _HOW_ much you _do_ care about my wellbeing.”  
“Hmm…”,Luke murmured and pressed his face into Danny’s hair.  
He had never witnessed a relationship as protective as theirs. Maybe part of it was because growing up, he had only had Luke. Jeri had just been… there (and even that was often wrong because of the damn business trips) but never _really_ _there for_ Danny. Danny knew that Luke would catch a bullet for him and he wouldn’t hesitate a second to do the same, “I love you so much.”  
“I know. So do I.”

* * *

 

The restaurant Colleen had chosen, seemed good but not overly expensive. Her dark, silky hair was running down her shoulders and her back. She wore a simple dress which was black and tight around her chest while it was cut wider and had a light blue flower pattern from her hips on. Their table was located in the back of the restaurant, not really private but not exposed either.  
“So.”, she smiled as they received the menus, “Should we cross, corpses off from our list of conversational topics right away?”  
Danny smiled, “I don’t know what you have against the topic, especially during diner…No seriously I really don’t need to talk about body parts on the first date.”  
“Not even the fun kind?”, she replied before Danny could notice his sort of slip up, “Or are you a wait for the third date kind of guy?”  
“I’m a male college student, what do you think?”,he tried to overplay his nervousness, “No seriously, I really don’t care.” _Wow, Smooth.  
_ Colleen grinned and focused on the menu, Danny decided to do the same.  
“Ask me. Go ahead.”, she smiled as she lowered her menu.  
“I, what?”  
She remained silent and raised her perfect eyebrow.  
He sighed and looked at her both uncertain and ashamed, “Does Misty know?”  
Her reaction told him, that this was the question she had expected, “ Not yet. I know, I should tell her but… I’ll tell her tomorrow. Maybe.”  
“You shouldn’t feel bad because of that… You don’t want to make it awkward… That’s normal. If this,” he gestured towards her and him,” leads anywhere, you can tell her, if it doesn’t it’s no big deal.”  
She smiled and the way she looked him in the eyes made him melt.  
“Speaking of awkward…Do you know about Luke and me…I mean –“  
“Yeah. I know through Misty. It’s kinda cute, I guess.”  
He smiled and she shook her head and laughed, “I also think it’s sort of hot.”  
“I have heard that one before. But I have to disappoint you, there’s no potential for threesomes or Luke and me making out in front of you.”, he grinned.  
“Damn...Then it was nice to meet you.”, she laughed and pretended to get up from her chair.  
“Is it really that hot though?”  
“You ever seen two girls make out?”  
“Yeah.”  
“See?”, she grinned and laid down the menu.  
He should probably read it and find something he liked, to cover for the fact that he had mostly been watching her instead of actually studying the menu. In his defense she looked so damn pretty like this, neither over nor underdressed/ -styled for a first date.  
“You mind if I order wine?”, she asked.  
“I…no. Wouldn’t have considered you to be a wine type though.”  
“I’m not. Never had the expensive stuff though. Got to take the chance.”, her smile was warm and yet somehow wicked.  
“You know, I don’t actually have that much money at hand?”  
”Yeah rumors spread…but there’s no way, whoever is handling it will let you go broke.”  
He nodded, “Fair point. So go ahead with the fancy stuff.”  
“Nice…So is there anything you do besides being rich and creeping on innocent girls in the park?”  
“Hey. I wasn’t creeping on you, I had a very good reason to stop you.”, he grinned, “But to answer your question. I fight for college.”  
“Like boxing or wrestling?”  
“No…Kung Fu.”  
“That is a thing?“, Colleen laughed before she added, “Anything else?”  
“I…uhm I don’t know. What do you do, besides being used to report bodies in parks?”, Danny asked.  
“Haha. I like to do sport and meet friends...?”, there was something off but Danny pinned it down on nervousness.  
“Come on, this is basically what you tell people at school during the introduction lesson.”  
“It’s true though. Maybe I’m just boring.”  
“No,  Christ…you’re definitely not boring.”  
Colleen supported her chin with her hand and looked him deep in the eyes, “So what am I?”  
Man did he hope, he didn’t blush, “ You’re funny, intelligent…I mean as far as I can tell,” she grinned and he continued, “ You seem to know what you want, you’re also self confident and kind. I mean back in the park you hesitated knowing about the possible danger but decided to follow me anyway, because deep down you want to help…And you’re stunningly beautiful and have the prettiest smile I’ve ever seen.”  
“Wow, that was smooth.”, she giggled, “You’re sure you’re not studying psychology?”  
He smiled, “ I guess, I…just spend a lot of time thinking about you.”  
“I…uhm…guess that would be creepy, if I wouldn’t have done the same. Can I try, to prove it?”  
He sure he was blushing now, “I’m scared but go ahead.”  
“You are a good person. But you don’t think highly of yourself. You consider the worst possible outcome of everything, which means you worry about it. Yet you  still hope for… if not believe in the best possible outcome, which means you are always disappointed.  You are funny. The last thing you want to do is hurt someone. You love Luke and you would do everything for the people close to you. You’re also ridiculously cute…I think adding the emotional trauma stuff would be cheating since everyone knows about that thanks to the internet.”  
“And you’re telling me I’m good at that? This is some Criminal Minds shit right there.”  
“To be fair. I had some small snippets of stories Misty told me.”  
“Still. Not bad.”  
“Thanks.”  
Danny wasn’t sure if he had ever had conversations on a date move this smoothly. Colleen and he talked like they had known  each other their whole life only that every single story was new to each other.  
After Danny had paid, they walked the rest of the way to the subway station together.  
“I’ll bring you home.”, he gripped her hands tightly.  
“A: You don’t have to take care of me and B:”, she dragged him down to meet him in a deep kiss, tongues fighting for dominance, fingers getting tangled up in each other’s hair. Danny preferred this tongue kiss a lot over the first one he got today from Luke.  
“And B:”, she continued taking a deep breath,” You don’t have to bring me home.”

* * *

A bunch of awkward kissing on the subway later, they were standing face to face in Danny’s bedroom. He decided to let Colleen make the first move, she pulled him down and like on their way home their lips fused in a kiss. It was different though. Their first kiss had been rough and passionate, filled with desire ,curiosity and heat. This was something else. They had the whole night and they both knew that. The kiss was gentle and tender, and it took Colleen a few minutes before she moved her hands under Danny's shirt. She took her time to explore his upper body, while he did the same. Her hands felt so soft on his skin. The way she touched him...It felt almost as if she was afraid, that she could break him, if she wasn't careful enough.  
She smiled softly and turned around, so that Danny could pull down the zipper on her back. The dress fell off of her in one single heartbeat, forming a pool of blue and black fabric on the ground. Underneath the dress she wore a pretty lacey bra. Exactly the kind of lingerie that couldn’t be very comfortable to wear. He was sure that back home, when she put on her outfit and made a choice about her underwear, she had at least thought about sleeping with him. Sleeping with him. He hadn’t really realized that until now. What it meant...  
“You’re beautiful.”, he whispered.  
She smiled and started to unbutton his shirt, “I guess I could say the same about you.”  
Her fingers brushed his scar and he shivered. It didn’t feel the same…It felt different, not only from when other girls had touched it but also different from Luke’s touch. Different and yet good.  
“Is that from…I’m sorry.”  
“It’s okay and yes.”, he tried to flash her a confident smile, not sure if he actually succeeded.  
His eyes found a bruise slightly above her hip, he raised an eyebrow.  
“Edge of a table…It was dark and I was still sleepy.”  
He nodded and caressed the spot.  
“I think, we should focus on more…pleasant things.”, she whispered as she slowly pressed him down onto the mattress.  
Colleen took her time, she kissed his chest, his neck and throat. Danny would return the kisses whenever he could reach a part of her with his mouth. When that wasn’t the case, he gently caressed her naked skin or kneaded her ass through her red lacey panties.   
When she went back to kissing his mouth, the kisses were wanting and needy but nonetheless gentle and of a slow pace. He lost count of how long they just enjoyed tasting each other’s lips and to be honest Danny could have done this for hours but eventually Colleen broke the kiss and raised her head to fully take the sight of him in. Her hair tickled pleasantly against his naked chest as she moved.  
“You sure you want this?”, Danny asked despite his own want. His voice was raspy, his lips swollen and it was hard to speak…and at this point it was almost as hard to think. In general…hard was a fitting word right now.  
Colleen smiled fondly and lifted herself up into a seated position so that she could pull down her panties, “Would I be doing that, if I wasn’t sure?”  
“I…don’t…sorry.”, Danny smiled and looked up to meet Colleens eyes again.  
“And listen: This is not only what I want, this is what I hoped for this whole evening.”  
“Did you also hope for _this_?”, he rolled her over so that he was suddenly on top of her.  
She smiled. It was the sort smile that was coming from deep down. Danny could see it in her eyes, as she looked at him, “Maybe.”  
“Damn you’re so beautiful.”  
She grinned, “I may have heard that before. Today even.”  
“I’m sorry my brain’s running out of blood and words are hard...”  
“Danny.”, her giggling had turned into a moan as Danny moved his hand up her inner thigh.  
“Danny, what?”, he grinned and caught one of her nipples between his teeth.  
Colleen moaned, “You are such a smartass but it’s very hard to be mad at you right now…”  
He giggled and she seemed to like the resulting movement of his hand and the vibration against her sensitive skin. This was something he never really had. Banter during sex. Misty had been his first real girlfriend and back then sex had been so new to them…It had been something they had associated with maturity and maybe even seriousness. With one night stands there had never been any real chemistry and if he was being honest to himself…that might have been the case with him and Joy as well. But while he wanted to tease Colleen, he didn’t want it to turn into actual torture.  
Danny smiled fondly as their eyes met and he repositioned himself before he pressed his face down against the soft skin of her inner thigh.  He switched between soft kisses and sucking gently on her skin. Colleen seemed to enjoy that judging by her moans, her hands in his hair and her legs pressing against Danny’s back.  
He continued this until the smell of her arousal had become so intense that it was impossible for him to resist. All of the sudden he stopped and Colleens disappointed sound was immediately followed by a load gasp as Danny licked a long line along her slit. And damn, was she wet.  
“Fuck!”, she breathed and spread her legs a little more.  
He hummed against her skin and flicked his tongue before he allowed himself a look at her.  
Her head was thrown back , long, black hair spilling across the pillow. Her sweaty skin was shimmering in the moonlight and her breasts were falling and rising from her labored breathing.  
It was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen.  
If anything the view only motivated him to continue his work. The blond dived back down between her legs and fucked her with his tongue until Colleen hooked her legs around his shoulders and her moans were load enough that Danny was sure it could be heard from across the street.  
“Danny.”, she gripped his hair tighter and pressed him harder against her center, “Please.”  
Danny hummed something that was supposed to be a “Yes.”  and focused on her clit. Varying between circling his tongue around the sensitive spot and gently biting down.  
It didn’t take long until her legs started to slam against his back and she arched of the bed, “Fuck!”, if the people in the surrounding buildings hadn’t heard her before they sure as hell had now.  
  
Danny gently brought her down from the orgasm as he kissed her clit until he was sure that she was  finished for good. He smiled, maybe a bit proud of himself and moved up to kiss her on the mouth.  
She stroked his sticky blond hair out of his face and laughed, “Not bad.”  
“Not bad yourself.”  
“Hmm…”, she hummed as she caressed Danny’s skin.  
“If you want, you can stay for the night…I…I’ll just be in the bathroom for a moment.”  
“Wait, what?”  
He smiled sheepishly, “I just mean, if you don’t want to…whatever. You had your fun and I’m okay you don’t have to…”  
“Let you fuck me, blow you, jerk you off?”, she asked in a raspy voice and Danny was sure that it was this seductive on purpose.  
“Yeah.”  
“I want you. It doesn’t matter that you’ve just eaten me out. Right now there’s nothing I would love more then to spend days with you in bed. It’s nice that you’re being such a gentleman, but…jerking off in the bathroom would be such a waste.”, she gently grabbed his dick inside of his boxers and gave him a few jerks.  
“Shit.”, he moaned.  
“Such a waste…”, she whispered and moved her other hand towards Danny’s nightstand as she raised an asking eyebrow.  
“Yeah. Top drawer.”, Danny gasped while she worked on him.  
He had to stop himself from making a protesting sound, when Colleen had to let go of his cock to reach inside the drawer and grab a condom.  
She ripped the package open and pulled it over with her mouth.  
The moment she was done, Danny gently reached for her cheeks and pulled her into yet another kiss. She met him. Hungry. Needy. Wanting. Wrapping her legs around his waist and massaging his back with her nails. Danny gave her one last, asking look before he slowly pushed inside of her, it was their first time together and he wanted to take it slow. So that it felt like more than a simple fuck and more importantly to let her top him from the bottom and set the pace. Every few moments Danny waited for Colleen to either adjust to him or for her to press him further inside with her legs.  
She was so wet that it didn’t take long for their hips to meet.  
“You feel so good.”, she murmured.  
“And you feel even better then you taste.”  
“I take that as a compliment.”, she rocked her hips and both of them gasped.  
He smiled, “Want to taste yourself again to judge?”, he kissed her again.  
“Hmm… “, she hummed as they broke apart.  
Danny started to move, pulling almost completely out, before slowly thrusting back into Colleen. He assumed that it was good for their neighbors that their moans got lost in each other’s mouths but that way it was hard for Danny to tell if he was hitting the right spot. And he was happy, when he realized that she contracted around him the moment he lost total control over his body and shot his load inside of her.

* * *

 

To his surprise, Danny was alone when he woke up. The space by his site was already cold, the dress had vanished from where they left it the night before. That being said…there was something else that was different from the day before, a handwritten note folded to cover his alarm clock:  
“Had to leave for college. Didn’t want to wake you. I’ll call you.  
XO Colleen  
PS: You look hella cute, when you’re asleep. Like a puppy or something. <3”  
He smiled and put the note into a book on his nightstand.  
When he left his bedroom and saw Luke with a coffee mug in his hand, grinning like an idiot, Danny knew he was in for a big questioning.  
“Don’t you have a lecture, today?”, he tried to avoid the inevitable.  
“Afternoon. Last night was good?” , he winked, grinning from one ear to the other.  
He rolled his eyes, “ You’ve already dumped Jessica?”  
Of course, Luke knew Danny to well, to fall for his pathetic attempts to change the topic, “You’re glowing and last night really sounded like it was…fu- really  good. Is she still asleep or just shy,… tell her I don’t bite.”  
“She left.”  
“Ouch. Fuck man. I’m-“  
“She left a note and I have her number, she had to leave for college.”  
Luke smiled as he stood up and hugged his friend from behind, pressing a giant kiss against his neck, “Good for you.”  
Danny gently pulled away from Luke, “Yeah. Look, I have to leave for college now and I have to be at the precinct this evening…then Lei Kung ordered me for a special-punishment-training-session and he’ll kill me if I skip that. Can you bring some food on your way home from football, or do you want to wait for me?”  
“Steve and Bucky invited the whole team for Burgers, sorry bud…and I might also crash at Jess’ place.”  
“Oh. Okay…”, he smiled, “Then…see you tomorrow?”  
“Yeah.”  
Danny had already turned around when Luke shout after him, “And Danny?”  
“Yeah?”  
“I love you more than anything in the world, don’t you dare to forget that.”  
“You know, I do as well.”

* * *

 

The lecture went by in a rush. While it was pretty boring stuff, Danny was distracted by thinking about Colleen.  
When the time had come to show up at the precinct, Colleen met him outside. She greeted him with a kiss and despite being about to give additional statements in regard to a murder, Danny couldn’t be happier.  
“You nervous?”, he asked.  
She shrugged, “A bit. I don’t do well with the police.”  
“Bad experience?”  
“Sort of.”, she took his hands, “I’m glad that you’re here though.”  
He smiled, “Me too. Do you want to grab dinner after I’m through with my training?”  
“Sorry. I’m not free, have college stuff to do.”, she licked her lips, “Maybe tomorrow?”  
“Yeah, fine.”  
Colleen was the first to be called in for interrogation, Danny followed a few minutes later but had to wait, before an officer who introduced himself as Simpson arrived to take his statement.  
The Detective sat down on the opposite side of the table with a file in his hands.  
“Mr. Rand, can you tell me again what happened, the day you went to central park?”  
Danny resisted the urge to ease himself from the tension, by making a joke about how often he went there, “Well as I said, that day: I was jogging, when I decided to leave the path. Eventually I tripped over something, destroying my phone in the process, and when I looked for the reason… I saw the skull. Because my phone was destroyed, I couldn’t call the police so I asked for Ms. Wings phone as she jogged past me.”  
“And you straying away from the way…that was pure coincidence?”  
“No…As I said, I just felt like it.”  
Simpson raised a brow and opened the file he was holding, “Do you know this woman?”, he pulled out a photo and slid it over the table.  
“That’s…that’s Reva.”, he stuttered in disbelieve and tried to dig for the last remaining option that this wouldn’t turn out the way he was afraid it would.  
The Detective nodded knowingly, “How do you know Ms. Connors?”  
Danny hesitated, he wasn’t sure what they were trying to get at. But he was also certain, that Simpson already knew the answer to that question, when he asked him this way. Lying would only make things worse.  
“She’s the ex of my roommate.  Is…is she…?”  
Simpson seemed to consider how much he should tell him, before he answered, “We found the rest of her body buried underground along with a ring. Dental records confirmed her identity. “  
“Shit.”, he whispered feeling like he had been punched in the guts, “I can’t believe...”  
“How did your roommate,”, he looked at his files, “Mr. Cage… and Ms. Connors break up?”  
“She send him a text message and didn’t contact him afterwards. Oh.”, realization hit him, what if she had already been gone…?  
“Did she give a reason?”  
Danny shrugged, “He was pretty messed up afterwards, I haven’t seen the-“ Shit. He wasn’t shedding a good light on his friend, “She didn’t give a reason.”  
“Do you know, what you were doing on the night between the 16th and 17th of November 2015?”  
“Sleeping?”  
He gave him a look, that reminded Danny of Lei Kung.  
“I guess, I was watching netflix with my roommate.”  
Simpson slammed the file on the table and jumped from his chair, “Don’t bullshit me! Why would you remember that?”  
Danny flinched only slightly, “Good long term memory?”  
The Detective’s face changed and he sat back down, “You don’t have to do this. You’re a good kid. With a bright future ahead of you, billions of Dollars, power…If you tell us the truth now, you’ll get out of this easy. Throwing your life away for some…it’s not worth it.”  
Silence and rage, “Some… what?”, Danny was grinding his teeth as he gripped the table so hard that his knuckles turned white.  
Simpson picked up on his body language and ignored Danny’s question, “What is your relationship with Mr. Cage like?”  
He decided to cooperate, Luke would be mad if he got himself into trouble,“ We’re roommates, he’s my best friend since forever.”  
“Understandable to risk your future for him.”  
“Yes…No! I’m not…he would never-“  
“Detective Simpson, please come in.”, a female voice over the speaker interrupted.  
Danny looked up from where he was sitting. He was tired and scared. Telling Luke about Reva would be hard, especially now that he was actually getting better.  
“Mr. Rand.”, Simpson walked back in, a triumphant smile across his face, “You’re free to go.”  
“Why?”  
“Mr. Cage next door has confessed.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry. This took waaaaaay longer then I expected.  
> We had our football/soccer cup finale last week and my team was in it for the first time in ages. And I was so anxious the whole week...  
> And then I filled in some of the blanks but then I decided to mess around with my video editor and my pc crashed...  
> So here's the new chapter... And I'm afraid the next might also take a while...As I said in the first chapter, the story is actually finished but I'm not happy with the pacing of chapter four and it needs a major do over.  
> Also...If you want a Powerfist/Ironwing only fic... there is one of each coming...one day...right now they are mostly idea's I wrote down on my papers when I got bored in uni. Maybe I'll post a preview or something...  
> Thanks for reading and please leave kudos and comments :D


	4. Chapter 4

_Being quiet had always been one of Danny's strengths. It had come in handy back in the day, when he couldn't sleep and played with his toys at night or when he had been playing hide and seek with Joy and Ward in the garden of their estate in the Hamptons._

_Now his parents weren't here anymore and his contacts to Joy and Ward were basically nonexistent, with them being at a boarding school upstate._

_Danny was sure that he could still be sneaky, but even the best stealth techniques were useless when you had to pass a porter guarding a high security penthouse exit.  Luckily said guard had conveniently loose morals. A hundred dollar bill was enough and he let Danny pass into the night. When he was little, he had been scared of the city after sunset. But weeks ago, he had survived a plane crash in the Himalayas, so this shouldn't be an issue these days._

_Danny took a quick look around before he pulled his hood over his head and walked with his eyes on the street. He didn't want to answer any questions from some people who were concerned about a little boy out at night all alone. He KNEW that he should be at home but he couldn't. He didn't have a home. Not anymore. He had felt at home in his parents’ house, but that had been sold by Jeri. He didn’t blame her for that; she thought that it would be better for Danny to start over somewhere else, but he was lonely and nothing could change that._

_Now he was on his way to the only place he still hoped to find peace. And to sleep. Yeah, he hadn't slept in days and that was exactly how he felt. But no matter what he did, whenever he closed his eyes he was back. Back in the burning wreck. Back in hell._

_In no time he jogged down the stairs towards the subway and walked past drunk students on their way to the next party hotspot and other creatures of the night. Luckily, Danny's timing turned out to be nothing but perfect. Not even a minute after his arrival, his train drove into the station. Danny rushed in successfully without being squashed to death by the adults surrounding him. As the doors closed, he noticed a man watching him intensely. He looked fairly young, maybe in his late twenties with dark brown hair. But something in his eyes sent chills down the boy's spine. They were wide and insane as they focused on him. Nonchalantly, Danny turned around and took a few steps away. He still felt the stare of the stranger burning into his back. Luckily, there was a man with a kid in front of him. He didn't ask himself what he was doing with a girl that was even younger than him at the subway in the middle of the night. They looked uncanny alike, so it was a father and a daughter going home after… whatever._

_All Danny really thought about was that he was damn relieved that he had someone who could offer him some sense of security... at least until the man took the girl in his arms and left the train a few stations later. Danny turned around and looked at the creepy man who was still there and still staring. Apart from him, he could spot a dozen drunks at varying ages and a few otherwise not trustworthy looking people. The best choice for help seemed to be a young couple sitting almost directly on his left. He shifted a little closer and tried to hide behind one of the groups of drunks. Two stations and then he would have to get out. Hopefully the weird dude wouldn't follow him. His anxiety was rising as he thought about that possibility. He knew that it was probably nothing. He was a kid taking the train at night. Of course some people would look at him. He most likely meant well. But all of this didn't stop him from shivering as he left the train car._

_Danny turned around and checked the folks who exited with him. Creepy dude wasn't there. He sighed in relief, before the shame came back and he felt bad for suspecting a random guy for being up to something harmful. Outside of the station, Danny started to jog through smaller alleys until he arrived at a brownstone house. It wasn't the best neighborhood and he could hear loud voices coming from one of the windows but suddenly he felt safe. Making as little sounds as possible, he used a dumpster to reach the fire ladder and climbed up three stories. He relied on the darkness, his skills and his black hoodie to keep him hidden. With a leap, Danny reached the ledge of an open window and pulled himself up and inside. In an instant his heartbeat slowed down and relaxed as the familiar smell filled his nostrils. Danny allowed himself a few deep breaths just to handle the sudden calmness after the gripping anxiety he had felt for the past hours, then he crept up towards the silhouette sleeping peacefully in the bed. Damn, he was a shitty friend._

_"Luke," he whispered and tapped his friend's shoulder._

_"Luke!"_

_Well he couldn't speak any louder without risking to raise any unwanted attention. Danny placed both of his hands on his friend’s shoulders and shook him gently. It worked._

_"Sh-!"_

_Danny pressed his hand against Luke's mouth and put the index finger of his free hand against his own lips, "Psst."_

_"Man you scared the shit out of me. What the hell are you doing here?"_

_"I...I couldn't sleep," Danny said._

_"So you break into my place?"_

_"Well, I didn't break in. I entered. The window’s open, there's a difference,” Danny countered._

_"I hate you."_

_"I can leave?" Danny offered._

_Luke laughed, "And get yourself into trouble as always. No thanks."_

_"Thank you."_

_"But if my parents come in here tomorrow and find me in bed with a twelve year old white boy, you have to explain," Luke said._

_"I'll get up early and say that we wanted to go to school together."_

_Luke shuffled aside, and Danny laid down next to him, not quite touching his friend but close enough to feel his body heat after a few moments. "Thank you,” he whispered, but Luke was already asleep._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm back :) Sorry but we adopted a new dog, I had my exams, my best friend's birthday was just a few days ago and now I'm sick, I hope I have more time the next few days.  
> So this chapter wasn't planned to be originally in this story(that's also why it's fairly short), but I need some more time with the actual fourth chapter (it's A LOT of work) and I wanted to update this fic since it has been such a long time.  
> So have an obligatory flashback scene. Yay.  
> I hope I can either update this story within a week or post a new APfT story, but I can't promise anything.
> 
> Edit: Also a GIANT thank you to my new beta: Casy_Dee, you are awesome :)  
> Thanks for reading :D


End file.
